Musical instrument



Dec. 26, 1950 E. H. ALKIRE 2, 3 ,2 2

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed April 12, 1949 Fig.

INVENTOR E lbern H. A/lr/re MA W 0 A Ilorney Patented Dec. 26, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MUSICAL. INSTRUMENT Elbern H. Alkire, Easton, Pa.

Application April 12, 1949, Serial No. 86,925

. 9 Claims.

This invention relates to musical instruments and, more particularly, to fretted stringed instruments classed generally as electric guitars.

The primary object of the invention is to pro vide an instrument capable of being played with a fast, accurate technique.

Another object of the invention is to provide an instrument especially adapted for. easy instruction and learning. When a fingerboard covers more than one octave, and where six, eight, or ten strings are used, considerable difliculty is encountered in conveying to the student by written or oral instruction, the relationship between'notes obtained from certain strings played in one octave and those from another. The student must go through complete mental processes of observation, analysis, and reasoning in order to maintain proper relationship between the octaves. The object now is to bypass most of these intermediate mental processes by rendering them unnecessary.

More particularly, it is intended to provide a stringed instrument having a fingerboard fretted along the span of a plurality of octaves, wherein the fingerboard is comprised of a plurality of successive laterally offset portions corresponding in length to each octave. Additionally, it is proposed that each offset portion be connected to the next by a diagonal jog one note in length and corresponding, at a higher octave, to the open position of the string. Thus, when the tip of the bar is placed down in the first offset portion to produce a certain note on the fourth string of the second octave, it is in the same relative fret position in the first offset as it would be to produce that note on the same string an octave higher or lower in the portions respectively to the east or west, as seen by the players with the guitar in playing position.

Furthermore, the portions of the fingerboard representing different successively ascending octaves are to be offset laterally beyond the first string so as to facilitate seeing the position of the steel when playing in the upper octaves.

Most operations of the students left hand are therefore functionally central of the fingerboard, and he is deterred from the extremes except in Special circumstances and when it is necessary to produce the highest or lowest possible notes.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following specification and drawing, in which the sole figure is a perspective View showing the new instrument.

Referring now to the drawing, in which like reference numerals denote similar elements, the

instrument comprises an enlarged body 2 merging to a neck 4, at the head 6 of which are mounted posts 8 for tuning the strings l0, convention'ally supported at their other ends over a bridge l2, The instrument also includes an electrical pick-up unit l4, tone and volume controls It and f8 respectively, and a hand rest 20. Body 2 is suitably bored and hollowed to receive the electrical components which are, of course, connected to suitable amplifying and reproducing equipment.

The invention is concerned primarily with fingerboard 22 which has frets 24 and position dots 26 spaced therealong Fingerboard 22 is divided lengthwise into three octaves A, B and C, connected by jogs 28 and 30 so that octave B is laterally offset by jog 28 upwardly, or in the direction of the first string Illa from octave A, and octave B is similarly offset by jog 30 from octave A.

Frets 24 and jogs 28 and 30 are so arranged with respect to the musical length of fingerboard 22 that a steel placed down at jog 28 on any given string will produce the same note, but one octave higher, than that of the open position of the string, and correspondingly, the steel at jog 30 produces the same note, but two octaves higher than the open position. Thus, the instruction and learning processes applicable to the first octave may be shifted to the higher ones .by simple designation. Furthermore, a chord produced by plucking a bass string such as lllb in its open position and by placing the steel down at certain frets in octave A on the first and third strings, for in-- stance, may be reproduced with variation by again plucking string Illb in its open position and placing the steel at corresponding frets in octave B, the jogs 28 and 3!] serving as reference points.

It should be noted that the frets in octave B are thinner than those in octave A, and that those in octave C are thinner than in B. This results in a more accurate pitch in placing the steel. Additionally, the frets in the upper octaves, particularly in octave C, extend outwardly so that they may be observed over the end of the steel. Position dots 26 are offset from the center line of the instrument in the second octave B because they are needed in the zone where most of the work is done. For octave C, the dots are placed outside the line of the strings where they can be seen.

The invention is not restricted to the specific instrument detailed above, but is intended to cover the various modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

board having a series of frets spaced along the 51* length thereof, said fingerboard comprising a plurality of successive parallel lengthwise portions, the first of said portions being of a length corresponding to one octave, the second of said portions being laterally ofiset from the first and being connected by a diagonally extending jog constituting the space between two frets.

3. The combination claimed in claim 2, the frets in the second portion being thinner in the direction lengthwise of the fingerboard.

4. The combination claimed in claim 2, said second portion being laterally offset in the direction of the first string of said instrument.

5. The combination claimed in claim 3 wherein said first portion underlies all of the strings of said instrument and wherein the width and offset of the second portion is such that said second portion avoids extent beneath at least the last string of said instrument.

6. In a stringed musical instrument, a fingerboard having a series of frets spaced therealong,

4 said fingerboard comprising first, second, and third successive parallel lengthwise portions each of respective lengths corresponding substantially to one octave, the second portion being laterally offset from the first in the direction of the first string of the instrument and the third portion being laterally ofiset from the second in the same direction.

7. The combination claimed in claim 6, said first portion lying substantially beneath the strings of said instrument, said second portion having a lengthwise margin lying substantially beyond said strings.

8. The combination claimed in claim 7 said frets extending entirely across said third portion whereby to be observable over the end of a steel placed down on said strings.

9. The combination claimed in claim 8, and position dots between the frets in said lengthwise margin.

ELBERN H. ALKIRE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 616,908 Englund Jan. 3, 1899 864,204 Skinnell Aug. 27, 1907 1,618,626 Altpeter Feb. 22, 1927 

